Cantonese disappearing?
I just came across a good L.A. Times article about the problems of survival facing the Cantonese language. Yes, I said language instead of dialect because it’s about as different from Mandarin Chinese as English is from French or Spanish, and it has its own interesting culture and slang that to me goes along with any language. It’s depressing to me to see such an interesting language fall by the wayside.
As China proper (PRC) becomes more of an economic force on the world scene, it is becoming increasingly popular – and necessary – to be able to speak Mandarin. As a result, more and more children in schools in Hong Kong are now going through their curriculum in Mandarin rather than Cantonese. And a lot of Hong Kongese and Cantonese born overseas are learning Mandarin instead of Cantonese, so their native language is slowly becoming extinct. Sadly, Mandarin seems to be slowly overtaking Cantonese as the language heard in Chinatowns across America. Thankfully, Cantonese is still widely spoken in Guangdong, China, as well as Hong Kong as well as lots of overseas Chinese communities, but that’s even changing. It’s not that I don’t like Mandarin; on the contrary, I love it and think it’s a beautiful language; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been studying it for over 3 years now. But there’s a certain sense of humor and charm that goes along with Cantonese that doesn’t quite come across in Mandarin.
One of my favorite aspects of Cantonese, and the L.A. Times article mentions this as well, is how Cantonese speakers stress points or suggest things. They often take a sentence and add a long “aaaaaaah” or “laaaaaah” sound to the end of it, and it just makes everything sound so much lighter and humorous. There’s a bit of that in Mandarin, but it’s just not the same. I’ve always said that if I heard a joke told in both Mandarin and Cantonese, it would be much funnier in Cantonese just by virtue of how the language sounds. Cantonese as a language also has a lot of colorful slang and metaphors that makes it really interesting.
Maybe I’m too much of an idealist, but I hate to see amazing languages like Cantonese fade away. I’m glad that there are societies and associations devoted to the preservation of Cantonese as a language. I’m slowly learning it myself, and even if I butcher the language (which I no-doubt will), at least I’m trying to keep it alive.
Anybody know of any good podcast sites similar to Chinesepod.com, but for Cantonese?
